The Media Monitors' Top 20

Sonny Bill Williams and Cadel Evans received significantly more coverage than Brendan Nelson this week. So what does that tell us? <Patrick Baum writes.

If anyone needed reminding that sport is going to completely dominate the next couple of months, and the news editors reckon everyone’s comprehensively bored with politics after 18 months of heavy coverage, just look to the fact that both Sonny Bill Williams and Cadel Evans received significantly more coverage than Brendan Nelson this week.

The Top Ten almost exactly as you would expect it to be, with the main Federal players (except Gillard) plus the man who wouldn’t be king Peter Costello, plus… the Borg!? Yes the leader of the brand spanking new Liberal National Party (whose critics might claim is neither liberal nor national) is ready to take on the world, or at least Anna Bligh for now… what is it about Queensland and leaders with Teutonic names?

Joe Hockey jumps into the list to say bravo to the Borg, and Alan Carpenter is reportedly unable to ignore the wonderful work of the WA State Opposition and may call the State Election early — basically as a mercy tactic it seems.

TW	Move	Position	Politician	Press Index	Radio Index	TV Index	Internet Index	Raw total	INDEX
1	0	PM	Kevin Rudd	1,000	1,000	1,000	1,000	*16,995*	1,000
2	1	Opp Leader	Brendan Nelson	394	778	503	563	*10,024*	560
3	3	Cabinet	Wayne Swan	278	660	671	333	*7,483*	486
4	1	Premier	Morris Iemma	227	648	148	609	*9,118*	408
5	6	Backbench	Peter Costello	200	426	435	125	*3,909*	296
6	2	Cabinet	Stephen Smith	128	396	357	160	*3,939*	260
7	0	Shadow	Malcolm Turnbull	195	289	326	190	*3,876*	250
8	29	Qld Opp Ld	Lawrence Springborg	172	387	236	134	*3,403*	232
9	-5	Premier	Anna Bligh	260	119	141	387	*4,998*	227
10	-1	Premier	John Brumby	186	371	179	116	*3,049*	213
11	-9	Cabinet	Penny Wong	154	230	74	258	*3,780*	179
12	13	Shadow	Tony Abbott	86	215	203	94	*2,252*	150
13	5	Cabinet	Nicola Roxon	113	172	125	85	*1,855*	124
14	2	Cabinet	Peter Garrett	114	77	129	68	*1,364*	97
15	16	Premier	Alan Carpenter	94	150	37	74	*1,448*	89
16	-4	Shadow	Greg Hunt	81	135	48	81	*1,492*	86
17	-2	Cabinet	Julia Gillard	88	96	73	84	*1,445*	85
18	21	Shadow	Joe Hockey	62	134	108	19	*954*	81
19	-9	Backbench	Alexander Downer	121	36	4	129	*1,588*	73
20	-6	Cabinet	Anthony Albanese	71	79	51	66	*1,130*	66

Just to prove that everyone still likes to slow down and rubberneck when they see a train wreck, Premier Iemma takes top spot easily, although even he was well beaten by Sonny Bill.

Rank	Politician	Talkback
1	Morris Iemma	245
2	Kevin Rudd	151
3	Peter Costello	45
4	Malcolm Turnbull	30
5	Wayne Swan	29

Cadel Evans will be getting sick of the sight of silver, and thanks to SBW the focus stayed in France, a very unhappy spot for Union lovers twelve months ago and an even unhappier spot for League lovers now.

	Press	Radio	Television	Internet	*Total*	INDEX
Cadel Evans	529	736	1,530	384	*11,190*	813
Sonny Bill Williams	356	980	1,508	256	*10,226*	787